


The Secret

by Blackrose2222



Category: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-18
Updated: 2013-03-18
Packaged: 2017-11-18 23:46:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/566669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blackrose2222/pseuds/Blackrose2222
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natasha and Clint have a secret, one that only Phil Coulson and Maria Hill know about. What happens when Hawkeye and the Black Widow reveal their secret to their fellow Avengers? Will it bring more harm than good?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone  
> This is my first story on Archiveofourown so I hope you all like it.  
> Its not as dark as it sounds but it could head that way, please give it a read  
> Thanks  
> Blackrose2222 x

Flashback – 6 years ago

“Clint!” I exclaimed angrily as he grabbed me and pushed me up against the wall.

“You can’t do this.” He whispered into my ear. I wanted to push him away and I could have, but I couldn’t find it in myself when I saw the desperate look in his eyes.

“I have to! We both know this has to stop, you almost got killed today because of me!” I said back, trying desperately to maintain the stoic mask I had on my face. I put my hands on his chest and tried to push him away.

“But I didn’t die Nat. I didn’t. I’m still here and I am not going anywhere anytime soon.”He said passionately, his voice rising as he grabbed my hands from his chest and pinned them to the wall above my head. I struggled against the vice like grip Clint had on my arms but I knew it was a futile effort, years of archery had made his arms as strong as steel and even with my strength I wouldn’t be able to get the upper hand this way. 

“No you didn’t but that’s not the point. The point is that you could have and I would have lost you and it would have all been my fault.” I yelled suddenly. Clint pulled away slightly, shocked by my outburst and that gave me the window of opportunity I needed. I slipped my leg around the back of his and used it to pull him off balance. As he fell I shifted my body to the side so that I could move around him, once I was free I bolted towards the door of his room in the left wing of the Helicarrier.

As I began to wrench the door open a pair of strong arms slammed it shut and pressed in a deactivation code on the mechanism next to the door to lock it, too quickly for me to see.

I could feel Clint’s breath on the back of my neck, but I didn’t turn around to face him, afraid that the emotion I would inevitably be able to see in his eyes would crumble my resolve. I felt Clint step forward until his muscular chest was resting against my back, his head came down and his hand moved my red hair off my neck so he could start to lay hot, wet kisses along my skin. My head tilted back of its own volition and a small noise of pleasure escaped my lips before I clamped my lips shut. He pushed his hips into my ass and I could feel his arousal through our suits. 

“Tasha...” He whispered into my ear before biting on it teasingly and licking the shell. The desperation in his voice made me lose my resolve. 

I spun around quickly, unable to control myself. I grabbed the back of his neck and brought his lips to mine in a rough, toe-curling kiss. I heard his moan just before I plunged my tongue into his mouth to tangle with his own. 

He frantically ran his hands up and down my sides, grazing over my breasts before grabbing my ass firmly and lifting me completely off the floor. I instinctively wrapped my legs around his lean waist and pushed my hips into his to keep myself up. “Fuck Tasha” Clint moaned again, breaking his lips from mine to lay biting kisses down my neck as he rocked his hips into mine. 

No longer caring why I had tried to stop this, I grabbed the zipper of Clint’s tactical vest and began to pull it down, revealing his toned body to my hungry gaze. I could see the slight sheen of sweat on his chiselled chest and abs; the thought of them pressed up against me made my panties grow even wetter and I had the sudden urge to run my tongue down his chest. But before I could achieve this Clint had raised his head from my neck and reached his hands up to the zipper on the top of my cat suit drawing it down slowly whilst looking straight into my eyes. His gaze was dark and intense; his pupils were dilated, making his blue eyes look black.

He dipped his head down as he finished drawing my zipper down and followed the zipper’s path with his tongue, running it between my breasts and down my toned stomach, making me arch into him and moan his name. 

“Clint. Please.” I begged him, rocking my hips into his desperately; I needed him inside me and I didn’t think I could take much more. 

“Now you don’t want this to stop.” He said mockingly, with a hint of malice in his words. He rocked his hips hard into me again and I couldn’t prevent the moan that escaped my lips even as I attempted to glare at him. 

“We fit Tasha, we need each other and that doesn’t make us weak, it makes us human and no matter how hard we pretend that we aren’t, it’s is all we are ever gunna be.” He whispered into the skin of my neck as he pulled my suit down to reveal my black and red lace bra. I opened my mouth to protest but his fingers had worked their way under my suit and were stroking my clit through my panties; all that came out of my mouth was a strangled gasp. 

“Fuck” Clint swore again as he pushed his fingers into my slit, “you’re so wet for me Tasha.”He breathed against the skin of my chest. He pumped his finger in and out of my pussy a few times before adding another finger and curling them slightly inside me until he found my sweet spot that had me crying out in pleasure and gripping his shoulders so I could move my hips in time with his fingers. If this had been any other man, I would have hated being so confined, but I liked the feel of Clint dominating me, even though I would never tell him or anyone else that. 

His teeth and lips closed around one of my nipples through my bra and I moaned even louder. Clint looked up at me and suddenly he was like a wild animal. He pulled his fingers from inside of me before bringing them up to my lips and forcing them inside my mouth, he let out a string of expletives as I sucked at his fingers and ran my tongue over them before moaning and closing my eyes at the taste of my own juices. 

Clint pulled his digits from my mouth before quickly setting me on the ground and dropping to his knees in front of me. He hastily pulled my panties and the rest of my suit to the ground so that he could have access to my pussy. I leant against the door for support and let out a small scream when he ran his tongue through my folds before pushing it inside me. 

“Clint, please, fuck me.” I cried out loudly when I felt Clint’s finger flicking at my clit. 

I pulled Clint roughly to his feet and tore at the rest of his clothes to get them off him as quickly as possible, eager to feel his cock. 

Clint growled into my mouth as he plundered it yet again with his tongue before ripping off my bra and hoisting me up. I managed to get his boxers down to his knees before I was slammed back against the wall with Clint’s huge cock pushing at my entrance. “Clint!” I yelled as his dick stretched my opening. 

“Fuck Nat! You are so tight!” He said as he pushed his length all the way inside of me.

I clawed at his shoulders for purchase as I finally lost control and began to move my hips as much as I could, trying to make him move.  
His eyes rolled back into his head at the feeling of my pussy squeezing his cock but he didn’t move, he put his hands on my hips and held me as still as he could. 

“Say it.” He said tauntingly, refusing to move until I had said the words he wanted to hear. 

“No.” I said stubbornly, redoubling my efforts to move on top of him.

“Say it.” He said again running his tongue across my nipple causing me to squirm above him and breathe even more deeply. I shook my head at him, unable to form a coherent sentence anymore.  
He suddenly thrust hard into me causing me to scream out at the sheer pleasure it caused. 

“Say it” He practically growled before stopping his movements yet again. 

“I love you!” I yelled, tired of this stupid, fucking game. 

I was rewarded a second later by Clint’s low moan and his hips pounding into mine, his length pulled almost completely out before being viciously slammed back in time and time again. 

I thought I was about to burst so I begged Clint to go harder and faster. 

I could feel the white heat spreading throughout my body and I knew that Clint was close too as his thrusts were becoming more and more erratic and he was beginning to moan as much as I was. 

“Fuck. Clint!” I screamed, “Clint, Clint, oh shit, Clint, Fuck” I shouted as I felt the heat explode inside me, starting at the tips of my toes and consuming my entire being. 

“Look at me Nat.” Clint growled. 

I, somehow, found the energy to lift my head as the waves of pleasure crashed over me again and again, to look into Clint’s eyes. The sight alone was enough to prolong my orgasm as I saw nothing but desire and love shining in those dark blue eyes. 

I felt his hips abruptly stutter against mine and his head tilted back as he began to cum, I leant forward and ran my tongue along his sweat slicked neck and moaned at the taste of him. 

I felt the spurts of his white hot cum coating my insides and I squeezed my core around him once more before he pushed his hips into me one final time before shouting, “Fuck Tasha, Fuck.” 

His orgasm suddenly triggered another, completely unexpected, one for me, causing my pussy to contract around him and me to scream out again. 

When we both calmed down, Clint collapsed onto me for a minute whilst he regained the use of his legs before carrying me over to his bed and laying down with me under the covers.  
“I love you too Nat.” He said gently into my hair as I allowed sleep to encase me in its dark tendrils, I couldn’t even remember the reason why I felt the need to leave him anymore. 

End of Flashback


	2. Chapter 2

Present 

I woke up slowly and stretched my arms above my head, I leaned back expecting to collide with the hard chest of Clint Barton but instead all I found was the cold bed sheets against my bare skin. 

I sat up abruptly wondering why he wasn’t there; he was always there when I woke up because I always woke up earlier than him – always. I slowly got out of the bed and reached for the guns I kept under my pillow before throwing on Clint’s t-shirt and making my way to the door. However, the door opened just as I was about to come out and there was  
Clint, wearing nothing but a pair of loose fitting sweats. He looked at the guns with a raised eyebrow before pushing me back into the room quickly and closing his bedroom door behind us. 

“Where do you think you’re going?” He said to me teasingly with one perfectly arched eyebrow. 

“I was going to look for you because you weren’t in here and something bad could have happened!” I hissed at him, annoyed that he looked so calm and collected. 

“What could have happened to me at 3am in Stark Tower Nat?” He asked, confused that I was worried for his safety. 

“Oh I don’t know? Some psychotic Asgardian God could come and turn you into his personal flying monkey again!” I whisper screeched, poking him in the chest with one of my guns (the safety still on).

“I never knew you were the type to get worried Nat.” He said, obviously angry that I was bringing that up. It still bothered him that Loki had managed to get him to hurt me and he still got angry and lashed out every time someone mentioned it.

“I’m not worried about just anyone though, am I? I was worried about you and we decided a long time ago that getting worried about one another was unavoidable! You’d have done the same with your bow and arrow if I’d have been gone.” I said, glaring at him before turning away and getting situated on his bed, legs crossed and arms folded protectively across my chest.

“Nat, it’s been a year, Loki’s gone, it’s not going to happen again. And I was just getting a drink from the kitchen, I woke up really thirsty and I didn’t want to wake you up so I just slipped out and got some water.” He said soothingly, his eyes losing their previous anger and his hands rubbing my arms in a placating gesture. 

I huffed but couldn’t stay mad at him for too long especially not when it was 3am and all I wanted to do was cuddle up to him in bed for a few more hours before the pending mission forced us to leave the comfort of each other. 

“Ok, fine.” I said, giving in and leaning into him as he joined me, sitting on the bed. It was one of the things I loved about Clint, that I could be completely emotional and feminine in his presence and he didn’t make me feel stupid for it. He was the only person in my life who had ever seen this side of me. The other avengers were my friends and I had not been afraid to let my guard down a bit around them but even they did not get to see me this way. Clint was the only person in this world, or any other, that I trusted completely. 

“Come on, let’s sleep now.” He whispered into my ear, drawing me down to lie next to him on his small bed, “We have a mission tomorrow and we both need our sleep.” He kissed the side of my neck before pulling me so I was resting on his chest. 

I began to lay nibbling kisses down his chest, “Do we have to, I will be sharper tomorrow if I’m not sexually frustrated.” I whispered against his skin as I swirled my tongue in his belly button. 

“Uhhh, no Tasha we have to sleep.” He said, moaning at my ministrations before pulling me back up forcefully and wrapping his arms tightly around me. 

I grumbled under my breath in Russian but got comfortable and laid one of my legs over his like I did every night we were together. 

“Thank God Tony installed those coded locks.” Clint mumbled as I was about to drift off to sleep.

“Why’s that?” I murmured against his shoulder. 

“None of the others can get in and see this, because we would never live it down; Black Widow and Hawkeye cuddling!” He said and I could practically hear his smile. 

“We will have to tell them about us eventually. It has been nearly 7 years.”I said, smiling with him.

“I know, but I like having this between us, it definitely keeps things uncomplicated where S.H.I.E.L.D is concerned.” He said, before murmuring that he loved me into my ear and closing his eyes. 

“Love you too.” I said quietly before I let sleep consume me once again.  
...................................................................................................................................................  
I woke in the morning still wrapped in Clint’s arms – as it should be. I shook his shoulder gently to wake him before I moved to get up. 

“Where are you going?” He asked me, repeating his phrase from last night again as he made a swift grab for my waist. If I had been a normal woman I wouldn’t have been able to escape his assassin’s speed but being an assassin myself my reflexes allowed me to narrowly avoid being snagged by his arms.

“I am going back to my room before one of the others gets up and sees me leaving your room wearing nothing but your t-shirt, carrying my tactical cat suit.” I said before leaning down and placing a quick peck on his lips. 

“Fine.” He grumbled against my mouth, I extricated myself from him and walked towards the door as he moved his muscled arms behind his head, smirking when he saw me lick my lips at the gesture as I walked away. I found myself smiling at the domesticity of it all but that smile quickly turned into a frown as I remembered that we could only be like that when we were locked in one of our rooms every night.

I opened the door and did a scan of the floor before concluding that it was safe to go back to my room. I walked to the next door and typed in my activation code before slipping into my room to get suited up and apply my make-up before we all had to go into S.H.I.E.L.D to be briefed for the mission. 

About 20 minutes later there was a knock at my door so I told Jarvis to open it for the person on the other side. It was Pepper, she was probably the person I was closest to in Stark Tower, apart from Clint and we had become good friends, she was also the only person other than Clint that was allowed to shorten my name. 

“Did you want some coffee Tash?” She asked me holding out a steaming mug for me. 

I was taken aback by her thoughtfulness but graciously accepted the steaming mug from her. “Thanks Pep, I would have come out and gotten it myself, you didn’t have to go to the trouble.” I thanked her. 

“Trust me; it’s no trouble, anything to get out of the kitchen.”She said before sighing and perching on the rarely used desk in the corner of my room.

“What’s going on?” I asked her; curious as to why she had felt brave enough to enter an assassin’s bedroom but not to stay in the kitchen. 

“Well, Thor’s back to help with the mission and he broke Tony’s coffee machine, so Tony started yelling at him and Steve got involved to back up Thor but Clint backed up Tony. 

So now they are all throwing coffee beans at one another like the children they are. I left before I got in the line of fire.” She said grinning at me.

I grinned back and told her that I would sort them all out. 

I walked into to the war zone that used to be the 11th floor kitchen. Now it had pieces of metal strewn all over the floor with ground and whole coffee beans covering ever available surface. 

The four men froze when I walked into the kitchen; I had made my face into its blank mask and crossed my arms disapprovingly at them before leaning on the door jam. I looked at Steve first, who had a handful of coffee beans raised above his head angled at Tony. Tony was bending down to pick up some more coffee beans from the floor and from the way he was turned he appeared to be aiming for Thor. Then I looked across at Thor who had a jar of half empty coffee granules out in front of him like a baseball bat and I finally turned my attention to Clint. He was crouched on the floor holding a piece of what I assumed used to be the coffee maker in his hand as if he was trying to hit away the coffee beans being fired at him and his hand contained whole beans that he was about to fling at Steve. 

“Morning Nat.” Clint said to me sheepishly before quickly getting up of the floor and dropping the beans and metal onto the side, giving no sign that I had been lying in his arms just an hour before. The other boys all quickly straightened up and dropped their ‘weapons’ as well. 

“Morning Natasha” Tony, Steve and Thor mumbled together. I had to suppress a grin at the sight of the superheroes looking so scared, especially when I heard Pepper sniggering behind me. 

Clint swiped a hand through his hair, dislodging some coffee beans before moving towards the door, all of the men following silently behind him.  
Just as Clint was about to leave I put my arm across the door to block their path. 

“I hope you all know that I have been deprived of my morning coffee now.” I lied, revelling in their shared looks of horror. “And you have all seen me when I have not had my coffee, so get cleaning and I will not have to shoot you.” I said in a sickly sweet voice, I quickly moved my arm from the door and walked slowly out of the kitchen, looking back just before I reached Pepper to see Steve, Thor and Clint picking up pieces of metal from the floor and Tony pulled a broom out of the cupboard to clean up the beans. 

Pepper had her hands over her mouth to stop herself from laughing and I grabbed her arm quickly to pull her into my room before we both burst out into hysterical laughter as the door shut behind us. 

“Tash, that was brilliant!” Pepper gasped out.

“Yeah, I wonder how long it will be before they send Clint in here with an apologetic cup of coffee?”I asked her questioningly, raising an eyebrow before laughing again. 

“Not long I expect.” Pepper said, recovering from our outburst. “I had better go check on Tony as he is probably in the process of designing a new coffee maker; I think I’ll get him to explain how to use it to Thor after though.” She made her way towards the door, giving me one last smile before leaving my room. 

I sat in my room and cleaned my guns for a while before suiting up completely and deciding to go to the training room and get in some practice – we still had an 2 hours before we had to be at S.H.I.E.L.D so I had plenty of time. 

I made my way to the training room waving at Bruce and offering a small smile as I passed by the lab. 

Once in the training room I set up the target simulator and positioned myself in the corner with my guns at the ready. 

I dashed around the room firing round after round at the simulations never missing my target; I flipped over the vault and shot a target coming at me from another level (The training room when up to level 12 as well). I thought I had got every target until I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye. I stood up suddenly and aimed my gun at my target ready to pull the trigger. 

“You idiot!” I screamed as I put the safety back on my gun, barely pulling my finger off the trigger in time to avoid shooting Tony in the arch reactor!

“Sorry Spidey, I didn’t realise you were in here.” Tony said with his hands up and a stupid shit eating grin on his face. 

“Call me that one more time Stark and I swear to God I will shoot you.” I said menacingly, my fingers twitching on the gun at my side. 

Tony had just opened his mouth to reply when a voice from behind him cut him off. 

“Go finish the fucking coffee maker Stark and leave Natasha alone because I will pin you up against the wall with my arrows to make it easier for her to shoot you if you don’t.” Came Hawkeye’s deep voice from behind Tony. Tony whirled around and grimaced at the dangerously calm look on Clint’s face, before holding his hands up in surrender and making his way out of the training room. 

...


	3. Chapter 3

“I could have handled it.” I said to Clint before turning my back on him and shooting the final simulated target in the head. 

“I know but I couldn’t resist seeing the look on Stark’s face when I added that last bit to the threat.” He said, smiling at me. 

I ran my eyes over his muscular form, I hadn’t really looked at him properly when I was scolding the men in the kitchen but I licked my lips as I looked at him now.  
He had put on his tactical suit but had pulled down the top half because of the heat which left him a tight fitting, black wife-beater with his arrows across his back, his bow in one hand and a coffee in the other. 

“I went up to the twelfth floor and made you a coffee, I knew Tony would add all this fancy stuff to the new one to make it as Thor proof as possible so I wasn’t sure if you could wait.” He said before walking towards me and handing me the cup of coffee. 

“Thanks.” I said before taking a long swig of the coffee. Even though Pepper had brought me a coffee earlier, only Clint knew how to make coffee exactly the way I liked it, so I hadn’t actually drank most of it. 

“Sure.” He said back with a slight smile before moving past me and setting up the moving targets along the back wall to practice. 

I leant against the wall as he shot down target after target with perfect aim and ridiculous speed. To most people this would be scary, seeing someone so capable of killing so many with so little effort but to me it was the sexiest thing in the world. I took a deep breath when he leapt onto the holds on the wall and pulled himself up onto the second level so he could get to his targets from up above, a more realistic situation. I felt myself getting turned on seeing him this way and I decided that him not giving me what I wanted again last night was going to be bad for me if we were sent into combat later. 

I finished the coffee quickly before entering the deactivation code Pepper had let slip into the control panel to lock the door so that it was only accessible from the inside.  
Clint continually firing arrows at his fake assailants until all of them had been hit and he had run out of arrows.  
He gracefully jumped down from the second level and began to collect his arrows and place them into his quiver. I watched the muscles in his arms tense every time they moved behind his head and I decided that I had to have him before we went today. I looked quickly at my watch and was pleased to see that we had just over an hour until we had to jet to the S.H.I.E.L.D base. I quickly typed in another code into the system that instructed Jarvis to turn off the camera feed for the room before silently unzipping my Cat Suit and stepping out of it. 

Clint still hadn’t turned around to see what I was doing and his back was now facing me, the knowledge that Clint trusted me enough to be that vulnerable in my presence turned me on even further.

I pulled my thin black tank top over my head before walking silently towards Clint in just my dark purple bra and panties. 

“Clint.” I called out softly, in what he referred to as my seductive voice. Even in my current state of arousal I wasn’t stupid enough to sneak up on an assassin. 

“Yeah Nat?” He asked not bothering to turn and face me, as he crouched on the floor to pick up an arrow. 

“I need your help.” I said stepping behind him and placing a hand on his head, running my fingers through his spiky hair. 

“With what? We have to go in...” He said before trailing off as he turned around and saw me standing in front of him clad in only my underwear. 

“With this.” I practically growled. I quickly pushed Clint onto the floor before straddling him and placing my lips on his, not giving him time to protest before my tongue was inside his mouth, teasing his. 

“Tasha we can’t do this in here.” He murmured as I pulled away from his lips to drag his wife-beater over his head. I ignored his comment as I ran my tongue across his abs drawing a strangled moan from his mouth. I could feel his erection pressing into me and I knew that I didn’t have the patience to drag this out. 

I grabbed the tactical suit that was hanging at his waist and pulled it down along with his boxers. 

“Tasha sto.... ahhh fuck.” He began but I pulled my panties to the side and had sunk onto his hard length before he could get the words out of his mouth. 

“Oh, fuck yeah baby.” He said unable to control himself as I began to ride him hard on the floor of the training room, this position had always turned him on. If any other man had called me baby I would have snapped their neck, but the way Clint said it turned me on even more. 

As way of a reward for acquiescing to my demand, I squeezed my feminine muscles around him and he thrust up hard into me in response. 

“Shit!” I exclaimed at the feel of him meeting my thrusting with his own. His hands clawed at my breasts through my bra so I reached behind myself to unclasp it, all the while continuing my movements. 

I let the bra fall away as I moved on top of him. I brought my hands up to play with my breasts because I knew that it turned him on to see me playing with myself. 

“Oh god.” He breathed when he saw me fiddling with my nipples. He sat up suddenly and wrapped his arms around my waist to aid my movements, he then began sucking my breast into his mouth and scraping his teeth along the sensitive tip before moving across to the other. 

“Clint, shit.” I could feel my orgasm getting closer so I increased the pace of my movements. 

Clint fell back against the floor arching his back at the pleasure; I ran my hand over his chest and abs before forcefully pushing his back to the floor and leaning forward to suck his flat nipples. 

“Nat – Fuck it.” Clint exclaimed and I had a moments warning at the loss of his control before Clint flipped us over and began pounding into me at an almost inhuman speed. 

“Oh FUCK!” I screamed as I felt my pussy contract around Clint’s cock as my orgasm rushed powerfully through my body. Clint yelled out as he began to cum as well. Once his orgasm had ended he collapsed on top of me, his body a comforting and familiar weight above my own; we lay on the floor for a few minutes, our sweat slicked body’s resting against one another whilst we got our breathing under control.

“Where did that come from?” Clint asked when he moved off of me. 

I felt empty the second he left my body. “You left me in the lurch last night and all I could concentrate on whilst you were shooting the targets was how hot you looked. Not the best thing to be focused on in a potentially life threatening situation.” I said arching my eyebrow at him before grabbing my bra and re-clasping it. 

“Fuck that was hot.” He said smirking at me, he grabbed his gear and got suited up again, running his hands through his hair. 

“Yep.” I smiled back at him, checking I had all of the equipment I would need for the mission, all the equipment that I hard at Stark Tower that is, I kept a lot of it at S.H.I.E.L.D for safe keeping.

“Do I look ok?” I asked Clint, wanting to make sure that I didn’t look as if I had just fucked my partner on the floor of the avenger’s training room. 

“You look beautiful.” He said with that rare sincere look in his eyes before leaning in to kiss me quickly. He was so open when he was around me but I knew that the mask would go back up as soon as we left the room.

I pulled away from the kiss before it could become heated and entered the code to open the door and turn the cameras back on. Clint followed me out of the room after I wiped a smear of my lipstick off of the side of his neck. 

We sat on the couch in the living room in silence, preparing ourselves for the mission ahead before the other avengers walked into the room already suited up (except for Bruce, obviously). 

“Time to get this show on the road.” Came the metallic voice of Tony Stark through the ironman suit. 

“Yes my friends let us travel to S.H.I.E.L.D this instant.” Thor said commandingly. 

I repressed a smirk at the momentary look of amusement on Clint’s face but managed to keep my expression stoic. The way Thor spoke always managed to make Clint laugh, all of the other Avengers, including myself, were like that at first but it wore off eventually, it still hadn’t for Clint. 

“I’m driving.” Clint said before jumping out onto the window ledge and down onto the platform that housed the Avengers personal Quinjet. 

My heart fluttered uneasily in my chest when he climbed onto the ledge but I ignored it, Clint knew what he was doing and worrying about it was not going to change anything, or at least that was what I told myself every time. 

Tony powered his thrusters and told us he felt like taking the scenic route to S.H.I.E.L.D. 

I looked towards Clint as he walked onto the quinjet and I began to feel lucky that I had worn the comfortable purple underwear set instead of the lacy black ones because if I had  
I would have been really uncomfortable after our exchange. 

Shaking myself out of the pleasant thoughts I and the rest of the avengers, with the exception of Tony, climbed onto the quinjet. I took my place next to Clint at the controls; we shared a small, almost imperceptible smile before all thoughts of emotion were removed from our heads replaced only by thoughts about evasive manoeuvres and real targets which unlike our earlier simulated opponents had the power to shoot back at us.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I haven't updated in a really long time. I'm really sorry, but I thought I'd post two chapters to make it up to you all. Enjoy :-)

I listened to Nick Fury’s voice drone on and on through the safety briefing, sat in the S.H.I.E.L.D base with Steve sat on my right and Clint my left. 

The mission sounded relatively simple, an organisation called SYNCO had stolen a briefcase that contained the remaining research into the ‘Super Soldier’ formula that had been used on Steve. We had Intel that showed the organisation had a scientist called Wehelm working for them. He had cropped up on S.H.I.E.L.D’s radar before, back then Clint and I had been detailed to dispose of him but he had so many guards, we couldn’t get past them before he had slipped away. 

I thought back to that mission over two years ago and remembered the moment when Clint had gotten hit, he had run out of arrows so had resorted to hand-to-hand combat instead. The man he was fighting had pulled a gun and had managed to let off a shot before one of my bullets ripped through his skull. 

The second I saw Clint drop to the ground I felt suddenly cold. I looked back to my five remaining assailants before doing a sweeping manoeuvre (my favourite gun move), killing them all with one curved bullet. I ran to Clint and rolled him onto his back, the bullet had gone in over his tactical suit on the right hand side of his body, near his shoulder. I got Coulson on the comms and had him dispatch a med kit whilst I tried to stem the bleeding. 

“Stay with me Clint.” I had said to him, trying not to think about the coldness of his skin or the amount of blood I could feel running through my fingers. 

“Tasha...”He had managed to gasp out before he slipped into unconsciousness. The medical team arrived less than a minute after but it was the longest minute of my life as I tried to get Clint to wake up whilst maintaining pressure on the wound.

The medical team had airlifted him out while I had waited for the quinjet to take me back to the Helicarrier. I had never felt more worried in my life but I made sure that the extent of it didn’t show on my face, no-one knew that we were more than partners, some concern was warranted but not too much as we didn’t want everyone assuming we were a couple. (Even if we were) 

Later that evening I had visited Clint in the S.H.I.E.L.D infirmary, he’d looked tired and pasty but his face lit up when he saw me. I told the nurses to get out in my most threatening voice and they instantly did what I asked them to, they weren’t going to argue with Black Widow. The second they had left I ran over to Clint and kissed him softly. 

“You’re an idiot.” I told him gently. 

“I know.” He said shortly before pulling me to sit next to him on the bed and falling into a peaceful sleep, not once letting go of my hand. 

I shook myself out of the past, thinking back to that day still scared me, but I knew that I had to push it aside and focus on the mission at hand. 

Hawkeye was going to be placed on the opposite building to the one we knew Wehelm was in so that he could kill any hostiles on the upper levels that the ground team couldn’t   
see. 

It was decided that Tony would jet up and drop Clint off before attacking the building from the upper levels, the Hulk would smash his way up the side of the building that Hawkeye couldn’t see. Thor would stay outside after the ground team went in to take out any approaching guards or any that managed to escape the building.

Steve and I would lead the ground team with another eight S.H.I.E.L.D agents following us in, the Intel was sound and the mission sounded simple. All we had to do was kill any hostiles, take out Wehelm who was our primary target and retrieve the suitcase containing the research. Clint had the most important job. He had to swing onto the building once we were all clear using one of his grappling arrows and rig it to explode after we had retrieved the necessary information, to make sure that nothing remained of the secret formula other than the contents of the suitcase. Thor would then use his lightening to detonate the explosives on the sides of the building. 

Once the Steve had finished relaying the plan, Clint and I headed towards the equipment room in silence, once we got there I loaded my “Widow’s bite” onto my wrists and placed a variety of Guns and Daggers into different holsters on my suit. Clint sorted his bow and grabbed a spare quiver full of arrows so he wouldn’t run out before the mission ended to make sure he had one left to swing and prepare the building to blow. 

We nodded at one another before leaving the room and joining the other avenger’s on the quinjet, Clint sat down at the controls once again whilst I hovered in the back with the others. I had to focus and Clint always managed to distract me one way or another. 

It was half an hour before we reached our destination on the outskirts of Seattle, this was spent in relative silence, all of the Avengers, including me, were deep in thought and had switched off our Comms so that Tony couldn’t annoy us the whole journey. Don’t get me wrong, we did love Tony, he gave us a home and he was a genuinely nice guy but he had an ego the size of Asgard (Thor’s words – not mine) and didn’t know when to shut up. But he cared deeply for every member of the team and we knew the wise cracks and jokes were just to mask his fear of one of us getting hurt or compromised. He had proved that he cared when he had risked his own life to protect Steve by stepping in front of an energy current strong enough to shut off his arc reactor permanently. When everyone had questioned him on why he had done it he said that he didn’t realise it could have killed him. Everyone knew different but we didn’t press the matter; Steve had just patted him on the back and they had been getting along well ever since. Most of the time anyway. 

Clint’s voice suddenly broke through the silence. “We’re five minutes out, get your gear on.” 

Cap grabbed his shield, Thor picked up Mjolnir and I grabbed my guns and spare clips before placing them into my holders. Once we were all set I heard Clint’s voice call back to us all again.

“Tasha? Can you take over for me while I grab my quivers and my bow?” Clint asked me, never once taking his eyes off the air. 

“Sure.” I said sliding into the other pilot seat before taking the controls out of his hands. 

“Thanks.” He said quickly before slipping to the back of the quinjet to get ready. He was back in just under two minutes to take over the landing procedure. It required patience, definitely a quality Clint possessed which I didn’t. 

Clint guided the quinjet to the ground; we had landed less than a mile away from the building which meant that we had to work fast, because we were more than likely inside their perimeter. They probably already knew that we were there. It didn’t give us a lot of time and we were prepared to take out any hostiles as soon as we opened the cockpit door. 

Immediately, we knew that something wasn’t right. When we exited the quinjet there were no forces trying to take us out, in fact, there was no one in sight at all. 

We all exited the quinjet slowly, Hawkeye at the front, as he was the best at seeing things moving at a distance. We slowly made our way towards the building we believed Wehelm to be in before Clint came to a sudden stop. 

“Wait.” He called urgently, everyone stumbled to a halt and Clint turned around to face me. 

“What do you see on the ground about 30 feet in front of us Nat?” He asked me seriously before turning around to face the buildings again. 

“What’s going on down there?” Tony asked over the comms. 

“Not sure yet Stark.” Cap replied irritably.

“Yeah, well keep us in the loop.” Stark snapped in his arrogant manner before becoming silent once again.

I looked in front of me and moved my gaze to study the hard ground. To start with I couldn’t make out anything, but then something glinted under the suns bright glare. I redirected my gaze to where I had seen the light; I could just make out a thin, metallic wire. I let my gaze run along it until it dipped back into the earth before becoming exposed yet again.

“Crap” I exclaimed quietly, realising why Clint had asked me what I thought. 

He had seen the wire and had come to the exact same conclusion as me. That the wire led to automatic bombs laid into the earth at regular intervals that formed a perimeter around the building. If one of us so much as nudged the wire then the whole perimeter would explode. Suddenly, understanding dawned on me, the reason why there were no hostiles attacking was because they were confident in the fact that we would obliterate ourselves. 

I turned back to Clint who was still staring at me before giving him a sharp nod and turning my attention to the other Avengers. 

“30 foot in front of us is a perimeter made of automatic bombs; I would also suspect a mine field is dotted behind.” Clint informed the others, retaining his stoic mask.

There were a few murmurs from the avengers and other agents but no-one questioned our judgement. 

“We need a new plan of attack.” I stated, aiming the comment towards Cap, he was the team leader after all. 

“Yeah, preferably one that doesn’t get us all blown up.” Tony’s sarcastic voice sounded again over the comms. 

“Do Tony’s vocal folds ever need a rest?” Thor asked Bruce seriously, earning a huff from Tony over the comms and a chuckle from Bruce. 

Steve stepped forward, his face was strained, and it was a familiar expression to all of us. It was the look he got on his face every time he was formulating a strategy or plan of attack. 

“Cap?” I asked impatiently, desperate to get moving. I hated standing around for long periods of time; I needed to be doing something. 

“Ok, new plan.” Steve said turning to face us all. “Stark, I need you to grab Hawkeye and take him onto the opposite building the same as we originally planned. Thor I need you to fly Natasha and then myself onto the roof of Wehelm’s building. Bruce we need you to stay here with the other agents for now, if you could all make a perimeter around the bombs and take out any forces you see getting too close to the wires. No doubt all of the personnel know exactly where each explosive is positioned so that they know how to leave the perimeter when necessary, be on alert and don’t let anyone get out of that perimeter.” Bruce and the agents nodded before moving away to spread out. 

“Hang on Bruce – I need you to do something else yet.” Cap said, Bruce stopped and walked back to the rest of us with a confused expression of his face. 

“The rest of us, the plan remains ultimately the same, Widow and I will slip into the building from the upper floors, Thor can you cover the other side of the building to Hawkeye and Stark you cover as many hostiles as you can that come out of the lower levels. Let’s make this as simple as we can for the agents around the perimeter.” Steve said to us all before turning his attention to Bruce. 

“Bruce, I need you to do something important once Hawkeye has set up the explosives on the side of the building.” Cap said, Bruce nodded, waiting patiently to find out what he needed to do. 

“I need Tony to take Widow and myself back to the quinjet as Hawkeye sets the explosives, the agents around the perimeter need to get back to the quinjet before Clint has set up the last detonator. Thor will then use his lightening to detonate the explosives, as planned, before flying himself and Hawkeye back to join the rest of us. Bruce, what I need you to do is use the ‘other guy’ to detonate the bombs surrounding the perimeter to make sure that every hostile is taken out.” Cap said, finally telling Bruce what he needed to do, Bruce looked sad, but he always looked sad when he had to use the ‘other guy’ to kill people, no matter whether or not they were good or bad. 

“I can do that.” Bruce said quietly before heading off to fill the empty gap created in the perimeter that the S.H.I.E.L.D agents had left for him. We all knew why Cap had asked Bruce, after Bruce had let slip about trying to kill himself on the Helicarrier during the Loki incident last year we realised that the Hulk was practically indestructible. This had been proved when Bruce had accidentally stepped on an explosive earlier this year and the ‘other guy’ had come out with only a minor burn on his arm. 

Cap, Thor, Clint and I turned to look at one another briefly before Thor put his arms around my waist and flew me to the building at the same time as Tony came swooping down to pick up Hawkeye.


End file.
